The present invention is directed to a household refrigerator including a freezer compartment containing an ice receptacle mounted on the interior surface of the freezer access door and manually-operable means for delivering ice pieces from the receptacle through the door.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,572,053--Jacobus et al and 3,640,088--Jacobus et al disclose household refrigerators including exterior ice services having an ice passage in a freezer door and combination receptacle and dispensing means for delivering batches of ice pieces from the receptacle to the passage. The dispensing means is motor operated and designed to deliver batches of ice pieces periodically to the passage during operation of the motor.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,212,405--Rose et al and 2,697,918--Comstock disclose exterior ice services in which ice pieces are dispatched directly from an ice maker through a cabinet wall or the cabinet door, the amount of ice available at any one time being limited by the storage capacity of the ice makers.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,602,007--Drieci discloses through-the-door ice service comprising a receptacle mounted on the interior surface of a small ice access door provided in the main freezer door so that the ice stored in the receptacle is available exteriorly by opening the pivoted ice access door without opening the main freezer door.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,747,363--Grimm discloses refrigerator including an ice cube storage receptacle on the inner surface of the freezer door, a passage through the door communicating with the interior of the receptacle and a trap door pivotally mounted on the exterior surface of the freezer door for closing the passage. The trap door carries a delivery tube extending through the passage and up into the storage receptacle for picking up ice pieces from the receptacle and delivering the ice pieces to the exterior of the freezer door when the trap door is opened. There is also disclosed stop means for limiting the passage of ice pieces through the delivery tube when the trap door is opened.
The present invention is directed specifically to an improved exterior ice service combining the advantages of an ice storage receptacle for storing a relatively large amount of ice pieces with a manually-operable ice dispensing means for dispensing small batches of ice, for example, batches of one to four ice pieces exteriorly of the refrigerator, without opening the main freezer door.